REPAIR INDUSTRY STATS: Severity rises modestly in 2011

The average total cost of vehicle repairs was just shy of $2,500 in 2011, according to CCC Information Services, up about 2.5 percent from 2010, and about 2.1 percent higher than the previous peak in 2008.

Audatex stats show a similar increase from 2010 to 2011, with that company pegging the national average severity in 2011 at $2,379. On a state-by-state basis, Audatex reports the highest severity in 2011 was in Wyoming ($3,836) and the lowest in Washington, D.C. ($1,624).

Four states – California, Florida, Georgia and Hawaii – have seen average severity decline each year since 2009, according to Audatex.